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    May 27, 1902

    “Self-Government Means Self-Support” 1From a talk by A. T. Jones, at the recent session of the Lake Union Conference. Advent Review and Sabbath Herald 79, 21, pp. 9, 10.

    IN studying the message in general, we have found that self-government is an essential of it; that self-government is Christianity; that the power of it is divine; that it is a divine attribute made manifest in the flesh by divine power. There is another phase of our work that is wrapped up in that. You all agreed to-day that self-government is right; that it is Christianity. I am sure that to-night you all agree to that. And now, with that: just as certainly as self-government is the right thing, so certainly self-support goes right along with it. I am willing that you should think of that just as long as you choose, until you can all say, Amen.ARSH May 27, 1902, page 9.1

    I commit myself to the principle of self-government. How is that government going to be run financially? how is the government going to be supported materially? Since the government is self-government; and that government must be supported materially, there is no other way of support than self-support. Inevitably, the support must come from the same source as comes the government.ARSH May 27, 1902, page 9.2

    Then you see it is everlastingly fixed; we never can get away from it. As certainly as we believe in self-government, we stand flat-footed everlastingly upon the principle of self-support. Then every man who is a Christian will be a self-supporting worker; every man who is in the ministry will be self-supporting. We must all say Amen to that.ARSH May 27, 1902, page 9.3

    That is plain, just from the statement of the case. There are considerations that confirm it, that make it impossible for anybody ever to escape it with any face at all.ARSH May 27, 1902, page 9.4

    In our previous study we found that self-government does not end with the individual himself alone; but the individual finds only in God the power to govern himself; that the individual finds in God his sole, his infinite resource in everything that pertains to government. That is self-government. Then, what is the fountain of self-support?—The source of self-government is the source of self-support. We cannot escape that; and that source if God in Jesus Christ.ARSH May 27, 1902, page 9.5

    Is it not plain enough that any man who professes to be joined to God, who professes that God is his sole source of strength, who professes that God is his all in all,—what kind of a heart can the man have who will say that he cannot support himself with God? Is God stranded?—No; he can make his own way. Now, we are ministers of the gospel in the world. Whether a man is a minister of the gospel in the actual preaching of the gospel, set apart by the laying on of hands and the call of God, of whether he is a minister of the gospel simply because he has received the gospel as a plain, every-day Christian, it is all the ministry of the gospel. And “the gospel ... is the power of God.” As certainly, then, as any person receives the gospel, he receives the power of God.ARSH May 27, 1902, page 9.6

    Think of it. Here is a man who professes that he has received the gospel, professes that he has received the power of God, and yet cannot make his way! How do those things fit? You see, on the face of it, that what that man professes is a fraud. I do not mean to say that he is consciously practicing a fraud, that he is intentionally passing off a fraud, that he is a hypocrite—not that; but I do say that the man who professes to have received the gospel, the power of God, and then cannot make his way in the world, whoever he may be, whatever his calling is,—the man who professes to have received the power of God, and then cannot make his way in this world, has simply allowed himself to be defrauded with a mere figment, with a mere profession without the reality; with the mere form of godliness without the power. That is perfectly plain; for the power of God is substantial, there is something to it.ARSH May 27, 1902, page 9.7

    So entirely is this principle true that we may illustrate it thus: Suppose a man in this world living without God, as the world does; and that man cannot make his way, is always in debt, always behind, cannot plan, cannot execute, so as to keep himself clear, but is dependent on all around him. Suppose that he receives the gospel. He receives the power of God. And that power of God will make him a successful man in everything that he puts his hand to from that day forward. And if that be not so, then he has not truly received the gospel at all; he has received a mere form of things. He has taken upon himself a mere profession of things, an empty figment of things, without the reality, without the real power that he professes to have received.ARSH May 27, 1902, page 9.8

    That is so; there can be no two ways about it. Otherwise, if it is so, and if we acknowledge that it is so,—that a man the day after he professes the gospel can do no better than the day before he professed the gospel, and cannot make his way, but is always behind, and always depending on those around him to help him forward,—if we are to allow that the person who receives the gospel is no better able to make his way than before, then I want to know what the gospel is worth? and what is the use of preaching the gospel? If the gospel does not bring into my life something that was not there before, then it is nothing to me more than it was before: and that is nothing—a mere figment, a hollow sham.ARSH May 27, 1902, page 9.9

    But the gospel comes to the world as the power of God. And that is what is truly is. The man who truly receives the gospel receives the power of God. And it is everlastingly true that any man in this world clothed with the power of God is able to do what he never could do before.ARSH May 27, 1902, page 9.10

    But the gospel is not simply the power of God, it is also the wisdom of God. We preach Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. He is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. Then in the gospel there is power to enable man to do what he never could do before, and there is wisdom to enable him to devise and to execute in a way that he never could before.ARSH May 27, 1902, page 9.11

    To say that a man has received from God power, and to say that God in Christ has become his wisdom and his knowledge, his instructor and his teacher, to show that man the way, to lead his mind in new paths and divine ways, is at the same time to say that that man can see a way to do better than he did before, to devise differently from what he ever was able to do before, to execute as he never was able to execute before, and has power to accomplish with all this what he never could accomplish before. And then to recognize, to allow for a moment, that that man cannot make his way in the world, is a disgrace to God and a fraud upon himself.ARSH May 27, 1902, page 10.1

    Shall I profess that the wisdom of God is given to me, that the knowledge of God is at my disposal, that the Spirit of God is put upon me to guide in wisdom’s way, and that the power of God is given to me to reach forward in the accomplishment of divine things, and then actually give the impression by my actions in the world and by the fruits of those actions, that all that is not so? If I make all that profession, and then my work does not pay my way, if it does not bring results to the cause of God in any fair proportion for what I take out of the cause of God in wages and expenses, will those two things fit?—Those two things cannot possibly fit.ARSH May 27, 1902, page 10.2

    The only fitness of things, then, in your profession of the gospel, and in mine, as ministers of the gospel, the only fitness that there can possibly be in our profession, is that our work shall bring into the cause of God more than our wages and expenses can ever take out. And each one of us is to be everlastingly ashamed of himself if that is not so—until it shall be so.ARSH May 27, 1902, page 10.3

    And still further: the preaching ministry is the key of the whole work of the Lord in this world. I say advisedly, the key, for it is literally true that whichever way that key turns, things go. If the preaching minister is dilatory, trifling, weak,—as certainly as he is of that sort, so the whole cause wherever his influence reaches will become that sort; all the people will become that sort.ARSH May 27, 1902, page 10.4

    But is the minister is wide-awake, energetic, inventive, thoughtful to devise and powerful to execute, clothed with the power of God, and really preaches the power that does all this for those who receive it,—then as certainly as the key turns that way, so the whole cause wheresoever that minister’s influence reaches will be of that sort. All the people to whom he preaches will be of that sort.ARSH May 27, 1902, page 10.5

    Now we have a problem. Every conference and conference committee knows that it is a problem in this work of reorganization to bring the ministry of the Seventh-day Adventist cause upon a self-supporting basis, to bring the ministry of the cause to where their work will bring into the cause more than their wages and expenses take out.ARSH May 27, 1902, page 10.6

    Upon what principle, by what process of reasoning, can I argue that I shall spend my time a whole year at conference expense, taking from the treasury in wages and expenses five, six, or seven hundred dollars, and bringing into the cause one, two, or three, four or five individuals, and perhaps none at all? I want to know upon what principle of fairness I can do that thing.ARSH May 27, 1902, page 10.7

    Of what is the conference composed?—The members, the Seventh-day Adventists that are within the territory of that conference. The conference committee are simply men chosen from the membership to have the care of the funds, the property, and the work of the conference. And they are to guard the funds, as well as to care for the business, of the denomination in that conference.ARSH May 27, 1902, page 10.8

    Those funds come from the people. True, they are tithe that belong to God; but those tithes you know come from the poor people. I mean poor people, because Seventh-day Adventists are generally poor, and that is why we have so much money. That is straight. You can always trust the poor. We are not to despise the rich. Thank the Lord that he can save even the rich; but we never can put our trust in rich men, nor in the money of rich men. Our trust can be safely put in the poor, and never be disappointed.ARSH May 27, 1902, page 10.9

    Thank God always when he does gather in a rich man, and save his soul; but of all things do not put your trust or any kind of dependence at all upon his wealth. I do not mean to say that he will give nothing. That is not it. But I do say that it is wrong in principle to rest any kind of hope upon the money of the rich. Our dependence is not upon money; it is upon God. Our dependence is upon righteousness; it is upon character. And that is one thing that Seventh-day Adventists everywhere, and in our institutions particularly, must soon settle once and for all: that money shall never be allowed any kind of weight as against character.ARSH May 27, 1902, page 10.10

    Character is the one thing. Character, righteous character, in an institution is worth more than all the money that that institution could make in a million years.ARSH May 27, 1902, page 10.11

    For an institution to compromise with falsity in character, and overlook unrighteousness, condone iniquity in employees, for fear that the abrupt stoppage of a press, or the disarrangement of a department, or even the stoppage of the whole institution for righteousness’ sake, would cause the loss of “so much money,” of “such an important job,” or would jeopardize “so much of a steady income,” is simply deliberately to love iniquity and hate righteousness. And there is nothing that has cursed Seventh-day Adventist institutions in our day more than that very choice, which in itself is a choice of the love of iniquity and the hatred of righteousness. Not that they deliberately stand up and say, “I do love iniquity, and I do hate righteousness.” But if an employee uses obscene language, or plays wicked tricks, or does ungodly things, or carries on mischievous practices, and the management of that institution knows of these things, and then holds that man in their employ, just because to eliminate that individual would cause the loss of this job or that piece of income, or the favor of such and such a man, or such and such a set of people,—what is that but deliberately to put wealth, income, influence, money, against character; “business” against Christianity; and deliberately to commit the management and the institution itself to iniquity as against righteousness? It is as clear a decision, as clear a choice, of the love of iniquity and the hatred of righteousness as a man can make.ARSH May 27, 1902, page 10.12

    I was saying a moment ago that the tithes come largely from the poor, from the hard-working, self-denying people. You knot it. Poor widows who have to labor at the washtub and practice self-denial and careful management in every possible way to support themselves and the children who are dependent upon them,—these faithfully turn over to the treasury of God the tithe that belongs to the cause of the Lord for propagating the gospel. Then I want to know what kind of a heart there can be in me if I have the face to drift along a year, much less year after year, as has been done, bringing practically nothing into the treasury, and taking out those sacred funds by the hundreds? Where is the spirit of fairness? Where is it only as between man and man?ARSH May 27, 1902, page 10.13

    Well, then, let us stand up and be men enough to refuse to have anything to do with any such thing as that. Let us be manly enough to decide that if our work cannot bring into the cause of God more than our wages and expenses take out, then we will put ourselves at something in which it will do it.ARSH May 27, 1902, page 10.14

    (To be continued.)

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